There’s nothing to be gained in calls for Dr Williams to resign. He’s not the Home Secretary, and he serves under different rules from those that govern politicians. In any case, it would do no good unless he were replaced by someone better. That can only happen if the people of England decide to take back possession of their national church, and the church, revived, begins to find a new leadership less interested in faction and modernisation, and more interested in the reconversion of England to Christianity.
Hopeless? Probably, but not definitely. If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars. My generation, that of the post-war baby bulge, are the ones almost wholly absent from Britain’s churches. You’ll find quite a few people in their late 60s and 70s, and in some places a lot of people under 35 in Anglican churches on any Sunday. But those born between 1945 and 1955 generally aren’t there (except in the form of clergy and Bishops – Dr Williams was born in 1950). It may just be that the children of the Me Generation are pretty sick of the organised selfishness they see around them, and in the mood for some reasonable Christianity, perhaps with some poetry thrown in. I live in hope.
But, as I’ve warned before, if the Christian church doesn’t take advantage of the approaching religious revival, which I think cannot be long delayed, someone else will. And that someone will argue much more powerfully for Sharia law than Rowan Williams ever did. And I can’t see the Muslims, if they become a great force in Britain, paying much attention to the maintenance of a separate Christian law. They are serious and determined people, who believe staunchly in their religion and hope for its ultimate triumph. So, no, I don’t think the Church of England should be allowed to die. We need it more than we ever have.
This is a fascinating and very enlightening piece. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will retrun to read it yet again several times as to digest it more deeply.
The comment thread is as instructive as the original article. The comment which I found most shattering was to the effect that no one is safe from drunks on the streets of England, so, perhaps the institution of Sharia law would take care of that problem. It recalls Napoleon coming to power because he had the nerve to shoot “a whiff” of grapeshot over/into the rioting mob. When a duly, democratically elected government cannot make the average citizen feel safe, bad things happen. I for one believe that there is a connection between the abandonment of Christianity in Britain and the breakdown of civil order.
Yes, and yes.